Hey Jill – When are your ITIL 4 Foundation Videos coming out?

Hi, all!

Well, now that Axelos has launched ITIL 4 Foundation, people are asking me when my ITIL 4 Foundation videos will be out. And my answer is: Thank you for your excitement! Now, please, slow down.

I know you’re excited that there’s a new version of ITIL. But please, slow down!

I know you want to learn the latest and greatest. But PLEASE, SLOW DOWN.

Despite what you’ve heard… ITIL 4 isn’t actually out yet. It’s really not.

“But Jill! Axelos says it’s out! They have exams and classes and everything!”

I know.
And my friends, it’s all marketing hype. And it’s all premature, and it’s all silly. Trust me. You’re visiting my site because you trust me… so please listen to me. I wouldn’t steer you wrong.

You know how ITIL stood for “IT Infrastructure Library.” It’s a set of books (a library!) that tell you about IT Service Management. Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, the actual ITIL 4 suite of books do not exist yet. Axelos (the owner and publisher of ITIL) has made it sound like that ITIL 4 is totally out, complete, and ready to rock, and that you should run right out and take classes and change your life.

But that’s not really the full story.

Axelos got everyone so worked up and excited over the launch of ITIL 4… but the only book of the ITIL 4 suite that exists is an overview/preview book describing what they think ITIL 4 is actually going to contain. But all of ITIL 4 hasn’t even been written yet– I’m actually part of a group of people reviewing draft versions of portions of the new ITIL 4 books. As we speak I’m currently reviewing the new Incident Management, Change Control, Service Level Management, and Problem Management practice documents for ITIL 4… my feedback on these is due May 10th. Like, we are still writing the actual ITIL 4 guidance. (ITIL V3/2011 is five books: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement., remember? But really, the ITIL 4 books aren’t done yet.

Think of it like Marvel releasing a movie preview 10 months before the movie comes out. Marvel knows the most basic plot points– enough to make a movie preview. Same thing with ITIL 4. They know enough of the basics to create an overview book/preview/Foundation class, but there’s no substance yet.

Let me be clear:

Right now, and until at least June of 2020, ITIL V3/2011 (which they’re now just calling “ITL V3″) is still considered the current edition. Axelos is encouraging people to continue their ITIL V3/2011 journey, and to to keep taking V3/2011 training, especially Intermediate and Practitioner training– those classes are fully transferable and relevant in the ITIL 4 scheme. But for some reason that message isn’t being heard — people only seem to hear “Ooh! ITIL 4 is out! I want the latest thing!” The farthest I’ll go is: ITIL 4 in previews. :-)

So… do I recommend taking ITIL 4 Foundation training?

I really don’t, at least not yet. (And I’m not just saying that because I want you to save yourself for when my videos come out.) I’m a firm believer in “Never install a new operating system until at least the first service pack comes out.” Same for ITIL 4. Most regular folks have no reason to be taking ITIL 4 training at this early stage. Your toolsets are still speaking ITIL V3, your teams and documentation are all using ITIL V3 vocabulary. And that’s not saying ITIL 4 isn’t going to be awesome — I believe it is a very necessary and useful update — but let’s let it settle down a bit and figure itself out first.

So please, slow down.
Give the bugs a chance to get worked out of the exams. Give the exam folks a chance to pull the confusing questions out of the current batches of exams.
Give instructors a chance to get really good at teaching it and building relevant examples.
Let the rest of the books get published so we can see what the big picture looks like, so when we teach ITIL 4 Foundation we don’t have to say “We don’t know yet.” We’d much rather say, “Here’s what the other books in the ITIL 4 guidance actually says.” Today, those “other ITIL 4 books” don’t exist yet.

So please. Slow down. If you’re really adamant about taking some training right now (maybe you have a training budget that you have to spend soon), I recommend taking the ITIL Practitioner class, because ITIL 4 and ITIL Practitioner have a good deal of overlap, and will make taking ITIL 4 Foundation that much easier once you’re ready. (Don’t forget, you have to hold an ITIL V3 (or V3 2011 Edition) Foundation Certification before you can take ITIL Practitioner.)

If you’re an instructor or consultant, sure, get a head start and pick up the new ITIL Foundation: ITIL 4 edition publication; it’s not expensive at all, and it’s an easy, pleasant read. You don’t really even need a class. Just read the book and then schedule/take your exam online.

So Jill, that’s all lovely. But when will your ITIL 4 Foundation videos be available?

I’m shooting to record them by the end of the year, but it’s not up to me. My publisher has to strike a deal with Axelos; but even once that happens, I want to wait until the exam syllabus settles down a bit. You see, once the videos are recorded it’s very hard to make changes, and I want to make sure you’re not getting outdated information. I’d rather wait and deliver a fabulous product than be the first one out the door. And I’m sure you want a chance for the exams to stabilize. :-)

I promise to always be honest with you all.

I hope this has been helpful.

Thanks for reading!

Jill